Your Views: What's on Your Mind?

Dear Santa

First off, I would appreciate peace on earth and good will toward men. Seems we could use some of that when it comes to our polarizing political parties, even at the local level. It would be wonderful too if a business would move into the soon-to-be-vacant Boston Store downtown.

And I would appreciate businesses and stores in Sheboygan that would interest our young adults. A friend couldn't keep his software business here because he couldn't get people to move here.

And would it be too much to ask if an Indian restaurant could open up here? (That one's for me.)

Carol Myers

Town of Wilson

Not acquainted

Young motorists unacquainted with the "day that shall live in infamy" appeared startled to hear taps and three volleys as they passed the 8th Street Military Museum on the morning of Dec. 7. How were they to know that a group of elderly veterans were honoring those who had died at Pearl Harbor? Similarly, a few months earlier the President created hardly a ripple when he ignored the sesquicentennial of the Gettysburg Address.

Interviews with American college students taken at the time revealed that many had never even heard of the Gettysburg Address. The bloody battle of Gettysburg was as foreign to them as were the trenches of Verdun and the beaches of Iwo Jima and Normandy. Gettysburg, like Pearl Harbor, Plymouth Rock, and Independence Rock, was just another meaningless place. These well spoken, attractive young people seemed devoid of "self evident truths," of "ask nots," or of walls that must be torn down. Why should they think about the choice between "liberty and death?"

We have an educational crisis in this country but not the "marketable skills" crisis that the Common Core crowd is stoking to make their fortunes. Marketable skills may be important, but the memories of Plymouth Rock, the Gettysburg Address, and Pearl Harbor are vital if "this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom," if "government of the people, by the people and for the people" is not to perish from the earth.

Art DeJong

Sheboygan

Common sense?

Just where are the administrators of our school systems coming from? Not all of them, but specifically those involved in the recent reprimand of a six-year-old boy, who was branded a sex offender. What offense did he commit? He kissed a girl classmate on the cheek, in violation of school policy. Chances are this boy does not even understand the meaning of sexual misbehavior. His parents are irate, and rightly so, trying to get this stigma removed from their son's record.

These very well educated administrators should probably take a course in common sense, because it is obvious they have lost any they may have ever had. If thinking like this is expanded in our society, littering may become a hanging offense. We are still the greatest country on Earth, let's hope we can keep it that way. Our Constitution must remain our guiding beacon; we must make sure it remains strong and not undermined bit by bit.

Jack Wirtz

Sheboygan

Don't demonize

The funeral for Nelson Mandela is over and the world focus will shift rapidly to another subject. But I think one of the lessons we need to learn is how we very often demonize people, only to later revise our opinion, which is often 180 degrees from our initial assessment. This happened to King, Mandela, Ali, and countless unnamed others who endured and still endure hateful rhetoric, and sometimes imprisonment, by their critics.

My advice is to think for yourself after researching all the factual information, not opinions, before forming a judgment against anyone. This is true for national and international figures as well as people we meet in our everyday lives. Will Bunch authored an excellent column last week, and I will quote his ending summary: "The Nelson Mandela of the 21st century is right here, right now. We just can't see it. We are too busy spitting on him and calling him a terrorist."

Mark Briese

Sheboygan

Raise the wage

The minimum wage should be raised. The current rate is not enough to live on and it is simply not right that people can work hard every day and not have enough to live on. Even two minimum wage jobs in a household are not enough. Unfortunately, many employers will pay only as much as they are required to by law. That is not right either, and people who seem to dislike government on principle should take note of that.

The usual objection to raising the minimum wage by law is that employers cannot afford that. In the case of big corporations this is sheer nonsense. Their profits are enormous. Even smaller businesses have the ability to raise prices to find enough money for their employees. A purely economic argument for higher wages is that if a person does not make enough money to live on decently, that person does not have funds to buy products which run the economy - sometimes even the products they make - or to pay taxes to support the common good.

James Tobin

Town of Wilson

Stay warm!

Man-made global warming is driving the brass monkeys inside. Thank goodness - it could be really cold without man-made global warming. Maybe we could burn some of Gore's money to stay warm.

George Kren

Oostburg

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Your Views: What's on Your Mind?

First off, I would appreciate peace on earth and good will toward men. Seems we could use some of that when it comes to our polarizing political parties, even at the local level.

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